diff --git a/Src/libCZI/CziMetadata.h b/Src/libCZI/CziMetadata.h
index 923ebd51..76abd2c9 100644
--- a/Src/libCZI/CziMetadata.h
+++ b/Src/libCZI/CziMetadata.h
@@ -15,9 +15,14 @@ class CCziMetadata : public libCZI::ICziMetadata, public std::enable_shared_from
 private:
     struct XmlNodeWrapperThrowExcp
     {
-        [[noreturn]] static void ThrowInvalidPath()
+        [[noreturn]] static void ThrowInvalidPath(const char* path="")
         {
-            throw libCZI::LibCZIMetadataException("invalid path", libCZI::LibCZIMetadataException::ErrorType::InvalidPath);
+            std::string message = "invalid path";
+            if (path && *path != '\0') {
+                message += ": ";
+                message += path;
+            }
+            throw libCZI::LibCZIMetadataException(message.c_str(), libCZI::LibCZIMetadataException::ErrorType::InvalidPath);
         }
     };
 
diff --git a/Src/libCZI/CziMetadataBuilder.cpp b/Src/libCZI/CziMetadataBuilder.cpp
index e686a629..956a32d2 100644
--- a/Src/libCZI/CziMetadataBuilder.cpp
+++ b/Src/libCZI/CziMetadataBuilder.cpp
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 #include "CziMetadataBuilder.h"
 #include "utilities.h"
 #include <regex>
-#include <codecvt>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <limits>
 #include "CziUtils.h"
@@ -15,9 +14,13 @@ using namespace pugi;
 using namespace libCZI;
 using namespace std;
 
-/*static*/void CNodeWrapper::MetadataBuilderXmlNodeWrapperThrowExcp::ThrowInvalidPath()
-{
-    throw libCZI::LibCZIMetadataBuilderException("invalid path", libCZI::LibCZIMetadataBuilderException::ErrorType::InvalidPath);
+/*static*/ void CNodeWrapper::MetadataBuilderXmlNodeWrapperThrowExcp::ThrowInvalidPath(const char* path){
+    std::string message = "invalid path";
+    if (path && *path != '\0') {
+        message += ": ";
+        message += path;
+    }
+    throw libCZI::LibCZIMetadataBuilderException(message.c_str(), libCZI::LibCZIMetadataBuilderException::ErrorType::InvalidPath);
 }
 
 /*virtual*/std::shared_ptr<libCZI::IXmlNodeRw> CNodeWrapper::AppendChildNode(const char* name)
diff --git a/Src/libCZI/CziMetadataBuilder.h b/Src/libCZI/CziMetadataBuilder.h
index 72f52dbf..9282189d 100644
--- a/Src/libCZI/CziMetadataBuilder.h
+++ b/Src/libCZI/CziMetadataBuilder.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <map>
 #include <tuple>
 #include <string>
+#include <codecvt>
 #include "libCZI.h"
 #include "CziSubBlockDirectory.h"
 #include "pugixml.hpp"
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ class CNodeWrapper : public libCZI::IXmlNodeRw
     std::shared_ptr<CCZiMetadataBuilder> builderRef;
     struct MetadataBuilderXmlNodeWrapperThrowExcp
     {
-        static void ThrowInvalidPath();
+        static void ThrowInvalidPath(const char* path="");
     };
 public:
     CNodeWrapper(std::shared_ptr<CCZiMetadataBuilder> builderRef, pugi::xml_node_struct* node_struct) :
diff --git a/Src/libCZI/XmlNodeWrapper.h b/Src/libCZI/XmlNodeWrapper.h
index b4bb5d37..6670101d 100644
--- a/Src/libCZI/XmlNodeWrapper.h
+++ b/Src/libCZI/XmlNodeWrapper.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <map>
 #include <vector>
 #include <utility>
+#include <locale>
 
 #include "libCZI_Metadata.h"
 #include <regex>
@@ -91,6 +92,19 @@ class XmlPathSpecifierUtilities
             return GetChildElementNodeWithAttributes(node, nodeName, attribute_value_pairs);
         }
     }
+    
+    static std::wstring getAbsoluteNodePath(pugi::xml_node node) {
+        std::wstring path;
+        for (pugi::xml_node current = node; current; current = current.parent()) {
+#ifdef PUGIXML_WCHAR_MODE
+        std::wstring wstr(current.name());
+#else
+        std::wstring wstr = Utilities::convertUtf8ToWchar_t(current.name());
+#endif
+            path = L"/" + wstr + path;
+        }
+        return path;
+    }
 
     /// Gets the n-th child node with name 'node_name' from the specified node. The index is zero-based.
     /// If this node does not exist, an exception is thrown.
@@ -103,7 +117,7 @@ class XmlPathSpecifierUtilities
         auto child_node = node.child(node_name.c_str());
         if (!child_node)
         {
-            tExcp::ThrowInvalidPath();
+            tExcp::ThrowInvalidPath(Utilities::convertWchar_tToUtf8((getAbsoluteNodePath(node) + L"/" + node_name + L" with index " + std::to_wstring(index)).c_str()).c_str());
         }
 
         for (std::uint32_t i = 0; i <= index; ++i)
@@ -116,7 +130,7 @@ class XmlPathSpecifierUtilities
             child_node = child_node.next_sibling(node_name.c_str());
             if (!child_node)
             {
-                tExcp::ThrowInvalidPath();
+                tExcp::ThrowInvalidPath(Utilities::convertWchar_tToUtf8((getAbsoluteNodePath(node) + L"/" + node_name + L" with index " + std::to_wstring(index)).c_str()).c_str());
             }
         }
 
@@ -336,13 +350,13 @@ class XmlNodeWrapperReadonly : public libCZI::IXmlNodeRead
         Utilities::Tokenize(p, tokens, L"/");
         if (tokens.empty())
         {
-            tExcp::ThrowInvalidPath();
+            tExcp::ThrowInvalidPath(path);
         }
 
         // if any of the tokens is empty, then we have a path like "/a//b", which is invalid
         if (any_of(tokens.cbegin(), tokens.cend(), [](const std::wstring& str) {return str.empty(); }))
         {
-            tExcp::ThrowInvalidPath();
+            tExcp::ThrowInvalidPath(path);
         }
 
         auto node = XmlPathSpecifierUtilities<tExcp>::GetChildElementNodeWithAttributes(this->node, tokens[0]);